Titans sign QB Skelton to add experienced backup

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans have signed veteran quarterback John Skelton to add an experienced backup to the roster behind Ryan Fitzpatrick.

NASHVILLE — The Tennessee Titans have signed veteran quarterback John Skelton to add an experienced backup to the roster behind Ryan Fitzpatrick.

The Titans announced the signing Monday.

The 6-foot-6 Skelton has started 17 games in his four-year career with the Arizona Cardinals. He has thrown for 3,707 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was a fifth-round draft pick by Arizona in 2010 out of Fordham. He was waived by Arizona in April and claimed by Cincinnati. The Bengals waived him after training camp. Skelton spent a week with San Francisco in October.

The Titans need the experience with Jake Locker out for the season. Rusty Smith is in his fourth year but has played in only three games with one start.

Cornerback Tommie Campbell was placed on injured reserve.

Colts get ready for Cardinals after weekend off: The Indianapolis Colts got back to work on Monday after a few extra days off.

The Colts (7-3) got a break over the weekend after seizing control of the AFC South with a 30-27 win at Tennessee on Thursday.

Now it’s back to the regular routine as the Colts try to figure out how to jump start the offense in the first half and prevent some of those big plays on defense.

Indy, which has fallen behind early in games over the past three weeks, is hoping the long weekend will create a refreshed team as they prepare to make a trip to Arizona on Sunday where they face the Cardinals and former offensive coordinator Bruce Arians, who stepped in as interim head coach of the Colts last season.

The Falcons aren’t winning battles on the line of scrimmage. They aren’t tackling well. They’re tied for next to last in turnover margin.

Atlanta looks nothing like the team that earned the NFC’s top playoff seed last year.

Quarterback Matt Ryan has thrown nine interceptions in the last four games and seems to get hit on every passing attempt behind a porous offensive line.

Atlanta has allowed 900 total yards in the last two weeks, and opponents this season have averaged almost 29 points per game.

Even worse, the Falcons (2-8) have just two days to practice before New Orleans (8-2) visits the Georgia Dome on Thursday night.

Seahawks hit bye week the best in NFL: Chuck Knox never did it. Neither did Mike Holmgren, Tom Flores or Dennis Erickson.

In the Seattle Seahawks’ history, they’ve never had consecutive 10-win regular seasons until now under Pete Carroll.

The Seahawks reached double-digit victories for the second straight season on Sunday with a 41-20 drubbing of Minnesota. The Seahawks improved to 10-1 and head into their bye week with the best record in the NFL. It’s the latest point in any season in franchise history that the Seahawks have held the best record in the entire league by themselves.

Carroll continues to say the Seahawks are going to get better. He’s right, as Seattle welcomed four starters back to the lineup in Sunday’s victory and played Percy Harvin for the first time.

Broncos’ Moore undergoes emergency surgery: Broncos safety Rahim Moore underwent emergency surgery Monday for a condition known as lateral compartment syndrome that can cost patients a limb or even their life.

Moore is out indefinitely.

Moore left the Broncos’ 27-17 win over the Kansas City Chiefs in the first half Sunday night after being unable to accelerate on Jamaal Charles’ 35-yard run. He was replaced by veteran Mike Adams.

The Broncos said he had a lower leg injury and removed him from the game.

During the night, Moore called the team’s athletic trainer because he was still experiencing pain and swelling and was told to see a doctor, who determined he needed what’s called a fasciotomy.

That’s where a surgeon cuts open the skin and fascia covering the affected compartment, which are groupings of muscles, nerves and blood vessels.

Former NFL player Thomas Howard dies in car crash: Former NFL linebacker Thomas Howard has died following a high-speed car crash on a freeway in Oakland.

The Alameda County Coroner’s office said the 30-year-old Howard was one of two men who died in the crash early Monday morning. The driver of the other car, 64-year-old Zeng Long Liu of Hayward, also died.

Howard was driving a speeding BMW when he hit a big rig, flipped over the center divider and went head-on into a Honda traveling on the other side around 1 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.

Howard played eight years in the NFL after being drafted by the Oakland Raiders in the second round out of Texas-El Paso in 2006. He was most recently with Atlanta before getting released last week.

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